Coq Au Vin

I have been teased in the past by friends who find it amazing just how much I love chicken and how often I will order it at even the nicest restaurants. I think my prediliction stems from my upbringing as my mother would make chicken curry pretty much on a weekly basis for me. I also gave up red meat for several years and so I relied on chicken even more during those years. I recall during my senior year of college (part of my non-red meat eating days), when I was finally off the university meal plan, I would buy a pack of boneless, skinless chicken breast every week to cook for the week's dinner (I wasn't very adventurous back then). I was the only one of my roommates who ate any meat and there was inevitably some controversy over the "chicken bag", aka the plastic grocery bag that contained the chicken breast pack. Being a little bit more laid back about bacteria in those days, I somehow always forgot to separate out the "chicken bag" and threw it into the house's collection of plastic bags. My roommates were disgusted at the thought of inadvertantly using the "chicken bag." Now that I think about it, the ongoing "chicken bag" controversy is likely responsible for my reputation for excessively loving chicken.

I still love chicken just as much today but I try to avoid boneless, skinless chicken breast, which frankly tastes like cardboard to me these days. I have been trying to master several classic chicken recipes and have already blogged about chicken with 40 cloves of garlic and Zuni Cafe's roast chicken. Last weekend, I decided to try my hand at coq au vin, a rustic French dish traditionally made with an old rooster (while I would love to try old rooster, I made do with a whole cut up chicken). The dish is essentially a braise and perfect for the continuing dreary weather in New York (it snowed on the first day of Spring!). I used a combination of two recipes -- a Barefoot Contessa recipe I found on the Food Network site and a recipe from Molly Stevens' book, All About Braising, which I have discussed before. I used a very cheap red wine for this recipe, which did not hurt the flavor of the dish at all. I also decided to strain the sauce after the braising period for aesthetic purposes but that is completely unnecessary. I served this with mashed potatoes and roasted cipollini onions, instead of the traditional pearl onions.

Coq Au Vin

Ingredients

1 3 - 4 lbs. whole chicken, cut into eighths
4 ounces bacon, diced (I had to use turkey bacon because my husband does not eat pork)
kosher salt & pepper
1/2 lb. carrot, peeled & diced
1 yellow onion, diced
2 or 3 cloves garlic, sliced
2 Tbsp brandy
1/2 bottle (375 ml) dry red wine, such as a Burgundy
1 cup + 2 Tbsp chicken stock
1 Tbsp + 1 tsp fresh thyme
3 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
1 bay leaf
2 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp tomato paste
olive oil
flour for dredging, about 1/2 cup
1/2 lb. cremini mushrooms, cut into quarters
2 Tbsp Marsala wine

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F.

2. In a large Dutch oven, cook the diced bacon over medium heat until well browned and crisp on the outside but with some softness remaining inside. If using turkey bacon, you may need to add a touch of olive oil. Transfer the bacon to a plate lined with paper towels.

3. Season the chicken all over with salt and pepper. Spread the flour on a wide shallow dish and dredge each piece of chicken, shaking off any excess flour.

4. Add one tablespoon of butter to the rendered bacon fat (if using turkey bacon, you will likely have to add a tablespoon of olive oil) and heat over medium-high heat. When the butter has melted, ease the dredged chicken pices, skin side down, without crowding the pot. Brown well on each side, around 7 to 10 minutes total, until a deep golden brown crust forms. Transfer the chicken to a large platter to catch the juices and repeat the process with all the remaining chicken pieces. Lower the heat a touch if the second batch of chicken pieces begin to burn.

5. Pour off any excess fat from the pot, and then add a tablespoon of butter and melt over medium heat. Add the onion and carrot and saute until the vegetables are beginning to soften and are flecked with brown, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and bay leaf and cook for another minute. Add the tomato paste and smear throughout the vegetables.

6. Add the brandy and bring to a boil to deglaze, scraping the pot with a wooden spoon to dislodge the crust that should have formed at the bottom of the pot. When the liquid is almost gone, raise the heat to high and add the red wine, 1 tablespoon thyme, and 2 tablespoons of parsley and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to medium-high and simmer rapidly until the wine reduces by about half, about 15 minutes. Stir in the reserved bacon and the stock and bring to a boil.

7. Add the chicken pieces back to the pot. Make sure to place the chicken breasts back in the pot skin side down balanced on top of the other pieces (this helps prevent the breasts from drying out). Pour in any juices that collected as the chicken sat and bring to a simmer. Cover the pot and place on a rack in the lower third of the oven to braise.

8. After 15 minutes, turn the breast pieces over with a tong. At the same time, make sure the liquid is not bubbling too fiercely. If it is, lower the heat by 10 or 15 degrees. Continue to braise for another 45 minutes or until the breasts and dark meat are fork-tender.

9. While the chicken braises, heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan. Add the mushrooms and saute until they start giving off their liquid. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and thyme. Once the liquid is almost evaporated, add 2 tablespoons of chicken stock. Once the chicken stock evaporates, add the Marsala wine and saute until the mushrooms are browned nicely.

10. When the chicken is fork-tender and pulling away from the bone, transfer the chicken to a deep platter or serving dish and cover loosely with foil to keep warm. Let the braising liquid settle for a moment and then, with a wide spoon, skim off as much surface fat as you can without being overly fastidious. Strain the solids out of the braising liquid and return the liquid to pot. Place the pot over high heat and bring the juices to a boil. Reduce the juices until thickened to the consistency of a vinaigrette, about 10 minutes. Lower the heat and add the mushroom mixture. Spoon the sauce over the chicken pieces, sprinkle with the remaining chopped parsley, and serve.

Makes 4 servings.

Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic

I have been dying to make Ina Garten's, better known as the Barefoot Contessa, recipe for chicken with 40 cloves of garlic ever since I saw this post on the Amateur Gourmet site. I adore garlic and throw it into almost every savory recipe, whether or not it calls for garlic. However, for some reason, when I first brought up the recipe to my husband, he was hesitant about it. According to him, several months later, when he suggested making the recipe, I was in turn hesitant about it because I thought it could be bland. So, this recipe languished for over a year in my recipe book. All this hesitation was ultimately pointless as the chicken was phenomenal!

It is amazing how just a few ingredients combine and concentrate to create such heightened flavors. Don't be afraid of the amount of garlic this recipe calls for as the garlic really mellows out, becoming almost sweet, during the cooking process. Although the recipe states that the chicken is "bland" without the sauce, I found the chicken to be very chicken-y, in a good way. I briefly considered omitting the Cognac as it required buying an overpriced tiny bottle just for the recipe but I am glad that I ended up splurging because it adds a great dimension to the dish. I also recommend using fresh thyme, as the flavor was also very evident in the final product. Finally, make sure to season the chicken thoroughly and be very patient with the initial browning as that is when most of the flavor is developed (as in most if not all braising dishes). I served this dish with roasted baby potatoes, flavored with some of the remaining fresh thyme and the Christmas truffle salt, and roasted broccoli, which deserves and will soon get its own post.

Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic

Ingredients

3 whole heads garlic, about 40 cloves
2 (3 1/2-pound) chickens, cut into eighths (I used just one chicken)
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 tablespoons good olive oil
3 tablespoons Cognac, divided
1 1/2 cups dry white wine
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons heavy cream (I used light cream)

Directions

1. Separate the cloves of garlic and drop them into a pot of boiling water for 60 seconds. Drain the garlic and peel. Set aside. (I cheated and used pre-peeled cloves of garlic I got from Trader Joe's, which did not hurt the flavor of the dish at all and saved me a ton of time and frustration.)

2. Dry the chicken with paper towels. Season liberally with salt and pepper on both sides. Heat the butter and oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat (If you are making just one chicken like I did, use half the amount of butter and oil. The chicken will give off plenty of its own fat). In batches, saute the chicken in the fat, skin side down first, until nicely browned, about 3 to 5 minutes on each side. Turn with tongs or a spatula; you don't want to pierce the skin with a fork. If the fat is burning, turn the heat down to medium. When a batch is done, transfer it to a plate and continue to saute all the chicken in batches. Remove the last chicken to the plate.

3. Add all of the garlic to the pot. Lower the heat and saute for 5 to 10 minutes, turning often, until evenly browned. Add 2 tablespoons of the Cognac and the wine, return to a boil, and scrape the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Return the chicken to the pot with the juices and sprinkle with the thyme leaves. Cover and simmer over the lowest heat for about 30 minutes, until all the chicken is done.

4. Remove the chicken to a platter and cover with aluminum foil to keep warm. In a small bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup of the sauce and the flour and then whisk it back into the sauce in the pot. Raise the heat, add the remaining tablespoon of Cognac and the cream, and boil for 3 minutes. Add salt and pepper, to taste; it should be very flavorful because chicken tends to be bland. Pour the sauce and the garlic over the chicken and serve hot.

Makes 4-6 servings.

Braised Lamb Shanks Provencal

One of the very few redeeming qualities of bitterly cold New York in January is that I have an excuse to make hearty braised dishes. This braised lamb shank recipe is from Molly Stevens' book All About Braising. The Amateur Gourmet has heaped a lot of praise on this book through his food blog and it is well deserved. I was motivated to purchase the book after a success with its Chicken Breast Braised with Hard Cider & Parsnips recipe. Molly Stevens is able to make a cooking technique that often seems daunting accessible. The one mistake I always make with braised dishes is that I underestimate the amount of time the recipes take. For example, this recipe calls for 2 1/2 hours of actual cooking time so I thought that starting at 6:00 meant that I would have dinner ready by 8:30. Uh, not so much as I failed to consider the time needed to prep the ingredients, brown the meat, and create the sauce. All in all, dinner was not ready until 10:30! But, this should not scare anyone from trying a braising recipe. Each step is quite simple (just a little time consuming), the recipes often make use of cheaper cuts of meat, and the results are always stunning -- I'm talking restaurant quality stunning.

This is only the second time that I have ever cooked lamb (the first a rather disastrous shepherd's pie using extremely greasy ground lamb) as I am often wary of the smell of lamb. I was pleased with the result -- fall-off-the-bone tender meat in a very Mediterranean sauce with nary a bad smell. I have halved Molly Stevens' recipe and shortened a few steps below. I served this dish with golden-crusted brussels sprouts and mashed potatoes.

Braised Lamb Shanks Provencal

Ingredients

3 lamb shanks (about 1 pound each)

All-purpose flour for dredging (about 1/2 cup)

1/2 Tbsp plus 1/4 tsp sweet Hungarian paprika

Kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper

1/2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 large yellow onion (about 1/2 lbs total), chopped into 1/2-inch pieces

1/2 lbs plum tomatoes, coarsely chopped (or 7 1/4 ounces of canned whole peeled tomatoes, coarsely chopped, juice reserved)

2 garlic cloves, finely minced

1/2 cup dry white wine or dry white vermouth

1/2 cup chicken stock

1 lemon

1 large bay leaf

1/4 cup pitted and coarsely chopped oil-cured black olives, such as Nyons or Moroccan

2 Tbsp coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley

Directions

1. Heat the oven to 325°F.

2. If the shanks are covered in a tough parchment-like outer layer (called the fell), trim this away by inserting a thin knife under it to loosen and peeling back this layer. Remove any excess fat as well, but don't fuss with trying to peel off any of the thin membrane -- this holds the shank together and will melt down during braising.

3. Pour the flour into a shallow dish and stir in 1/2 tablespoon of the paprika. Season the shanks all over with salt and pepper. Roll the shanks in the flour, lifting them out one by one and patting to remove any excess, and set them on a large plate or tray.

4. Heat the oil in a large heavy-based braising pot over medium heat until it shimmers. Add the flour-dredged shanks. Cook, turning the shanks with tongs, until they are gently browned on all sides, about 10 minutes total. Transfer the shanks to a plate or tray, without stacking or crowding.

5. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of fat from the pot and return the pot to the heat. If the bottom of the pot is at all blackened, wipe it out with a damp paper towel, being careful to leave behind any tasty caramelized drippings. Add the onions, tomatoes with their juice, and the garlic and season with the remaining 1/4 teaspoon paprika and salt and pepper to taste. Saute over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the onions are mostly tender. Pour in the wine and stir and scrape with a wooden spoon to dislodge any browned bits on the bottom of the pot that will contribute flavor to the liquid. Simmer for 3 minutes. Pour in the stock, stir and scrape the bottom again, and simmer for another 3 minutes.

6. Meanwhile, zest 1/2 of the lemon, being careful to remove only the outermost yellow zest, not the bitter-tasting white pith; reserve the lemon. Add the zest to the pot, along with the bay leaf.

7. Arrange the lamb shanks on top of the vegetables. The shanks should fit fairly snugly in the pot. Do not worry if they are stacked in two layers. Cover the pot with parchment paper, pressing down so that it nearly touches the lamb and the edges of the paper extend about an inch over the side of the pot. Set the lid in place, slide the pot into the lower part of the oven, and braise for about 2 1/2 hours. Check the shanks every 35 to 45 minutes, turning them with tongs and moving those on top to the bottom and vice versa, and making sure that there is still plenty of braising liquid. If the liquid seems to be simmering too aggressively at any point, lower the oven heat by 10 to 15 degrees. If the liquid threatens to dry out, add about 5 tablespoons of water. The shanks are done when the meat is entirely tender and they slide off a meat fork when you try to spear them.

8. Segment the lemons by removing the entire peel, deseeding, and cutting out the individual segments.

9. Transfer the shanks to a tray to catch any juices, and cover with foil to keep warm. Using a wide spoon, skim as much surface fat from the cooking liquid as possible. Lamb shanks tend to throw off quite a bit of fat: continue skimming (tilting the pot to gather all the liquid in one corner makes it easier) until you are satisfied. Set the pot over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Stir in the lemon segments, olives, and parsley. Taste for salt and pepper. Return the shanks to the braising liquid to reheat for a minute or two. Serve with plenty of sauce spooned over each shank.

Makes 3 servings.